Earlier in the year, it might have been tough to find things to work on in practice. It’s probably not so tough now, right?

No, it never really is, even when you’re playing well. It’s not a big difference. When you’re playing well there’s things that you see as a coach and when you’re playing poorly there’s obvious things that everyone sees.

Let’s deal with the obvious ones. What bothers you the most?

The turnovers worry me the most because a lot of them were forced. A lot of them were because of bad execution. Those are things we can fix. The switching and the zones, things you don’t see a lot, we should be able to handle it. We’ve dealt with that all year but we haven’t seen it lately so that’s something we’ll go over as well. That’s something Portland does as well, with their size.

Who’s in charge of getting your guys set when a team switches from man to zone? Is it the point guard?

It’s the point guard but even when he does it if guys don’t go the right spots… I thought [Rajon] Rondo handled it very well. I just thought guys as a group we did. There was a lot of standing around. [Wednesday] was a case a lot like the game before [against Dallas], where we came out in the second half, you could see it, we built a big lead and got comfortable again. Then you turn on a team and it’s tough to turn them off.

What’s the biggest thing for a coach? Is it X’s and O’s or is it chemistry and motivation?

Motivation is always harder. The average person might think you should never have to motivate a person, but it’s not that simple. It’s getting them going that day. The chemistry thing is always a challenge. Every game. Every moment. People forget their roles. People doing different things, trying to do too much at times instead of doing their jobs. X’s and O’s are easy. They’re pretty much black and white. You see what you need to fix and you fix that. It’s all the other things. If you don’t fix the other things the X’s and O’s don’t work because you don’t get guys to function in the right way. Read the rest of this entry »

NOTE: Updated with a Twitter apology apparently from Davis and comments from Ray Allen.

Doc Rivers was a guest on the Dennis & Callahan show Thursday morning and he spoke about a verbal altercation between Glen Davis and a fan in Detroit Wednesday night.

According to published reports, the fan, Scott Zack, heckled Davis about his weight, calling him “fat boy” and “chubs.” Davis responded with profanity that was picked up by microphones and were heard during the broadcast of the game. According to the Boston Herald, the fan placed a complaint with NBA security.

“We’ve been taught you have to take it and you have to keep playing,” Rivers told Dennis & Callahan. “I don’t think it’s a huge step backwards, but it is a step backwards, and Glen Davis has to grow up.”

“I’ve heard some vile things said to me, said to our players, it’s amazing what you hear,” Rivers said. “You should turn around, point to security, and have them deal with it. When you think about it ‘ and I’m bringing it up because it was two days ago, Martin Luther King’s birthday ‘ just think what he heard, and how many times he turned his cheek. If he can do that, why can’t we do that, on a basketball court. You’re not going to win that battle. Let somebody else fight it for you.”

Celtics guard Ray Allen, speaking on the Dale & Holley show, said he was not aware of Wednesday night’s incident but echoed his coach’s sentiments about turning a deaf ear.

“Any guy, I think, that yells back at fans during the game, I think, is uncalled for,” Allen said. “When we as players yell back into the crowd I think it makes us look bad and it makes us look unfocused.”

Added Allen: “It’s just one of those things I think for young players in the league, as you get older you just learn certain things. You stay away from certain people in the crowd. You stay away from certain pitfalls during the game. At the end of the day, it makes us as players look bad if you’re not paying attention to the game, worrying about what somebody in the crowd is saying.”

“I’m a tough competitor and I’m proud of the work I’ve done to get in shape and be at the top of my game.”

“That said, I shouldn’t have said what I did. My apologies to the fans and my teammates.”

It’s worth pointing out that the time stamp has both tweets coming in the hour or so after the game. In other words, Davis expressed his regret long before the incident became front-page news. It’s also worth pointing out that this is a different account then bigbabybball, which media outlets cited when the author voiced frustrations over Davis’ unsettled contract situation last summer. Later updates indicate the account might have been a fake.

1. LA Lakers (2): It’s going to be hard for someone to knock the Lakers from this perch going forward. Of all the elite teams, they’ve looked the hungriest all year. I have no idea what’s driving Kobe Bryant ‘ the rings, Shaquille O’Neal, the Next Michael Jordan comparisons ‘ but he’s been an incredibly determined player the entire season.

2. Cleveland (1): Speaking of Shaq, he volunteered the legs of Kobe, LeBron James and Vince Carter to raise money for Haitian relief. I wonder if it ever occurred to ShaqStimulus that with his massive contract (and endorsements) he’s also well-positioned to do what he’s asking of others.

3. Dallas (4): Dirk Nowitzki was an innocent bystander when Rasheed Wallace and the NBA both lost their minds. Wallace, after running into foul trouble against Dirk, said the officials don’t like to see tough D played against the big man. So the league fined him 35 grand. Silly on both counts. Wallace has to admit that Dirk is a tough matchup, and the NBA has to stop being so insecure about criticism. Thirty-five grand for a comment like that? Come on.

4. Atlanta (7): As scary a team as you’ll see in the Eastern Conference. Before, the Hawks’ weakness was obvious: no bench. I see a team with few weaknesses now, and plenty of confidence ‘ especially when playing the Celtics.

5.Denver (9): The Nuggets are a great team when Chauncey Billups is healthy. Carmelo Anthony certainly can hold his own without Billups, but he’s a much more dangerous player with him on the floor.

Forty-eight minutes — that’s all Doc Rivers asked for. But after getting out to a hot start against the Pistons, the Celtics slipped up in the second quarter and continued their collapse in the second half. They failed to put together a complete game and fell 92-86 to the Pistons on Wednesday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Player of the game: Rodney Stuckey led all players in scoring (27 points) and rebounding (11 boards). The feisty guard, who is listed at 6-foot-5, grabbed seven more rebounds than Kendrick Perkins, five more than Paul Pierce and four more than Rasheed Wallace. While his scoring burned the Celtics, his aggressiveness on the boards gave the Pistons a critical 45-35 advantage.

Turning point: While the Celtics lost control of the game in the third quarter (outscored 21-13), their problems began in the second. The C’s blew a nine-point first-quarter lead and were outscored 27-26 heading into halftime. Pierce, who had the hot hand early on, scored just two points during the stretch. The Pistons reclaimed momentum and carried it into the second half to get the win.

– Rasheed Wallace received a rowdy ovation from Pistons fans. He scored 16 points (5-13 FG, 2-5 3PG, 5-6 FT) on his first trip back to Detroit as a Celtic.

– Ray Allen scored just 8 points (3-10 FG, 0-4 3PG) in the loss. While Allen did contain Richard Hamilton on defense (4-11 FG), his lack of offense was detrimental to the C’s.

– Glen Davis received attention from Celtics trainer Ed Lacerte after Rajon Rondo elbowed him in the mouth on a drive to the basket. Davis immediately returned to the court.

– The Celtics have lost four of their last five games and are currently on a three-game losing streak. They will look to right themselves on Friday night against the Trail Blazers in Boston, when Kevin Garnett is expected to return to the court.

The NBA just released a statement to the press that Rasheed Wallace has been fined $35,000 for publicly criticizing game officials. The fine was a result of Wallace’s comments after the Celtics‘ 99-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, January 18th.

Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports reported that the Boston Celtics have made an offer to the New York Knicks for guard Nate Robinson. Robinson was the 21st selection of the 2005 NBA Draft, chosen by the Phoenix Suns before being traded to the New York Knicks. Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni removed Robinson from the Knicks’ rotation for 14 games earlier this season and Robinson’s agent has since urged the team to deal Robinson. Check back for more as this story as it develops. Click here to check out Robinson’s stats.

Kevin Garnett is close to coming back for the Celtics. He practiced Tuesday and might play Friday against the Blazers, although that seems a little optimistic considering how cautious everyone has been with his various leg injuries.

The question for Garnett and the Celtics is: Which KG will we see on the floor? The one at the beginning of the season was tentative and out of rhythm offensively. The KG we saw before the injury was one of the best shooting big men in the NBA and a strong rebounder. Even when he’s not at his best, Garnett remains an excellent passer and a terrific help-side defender, and the Celtics have been struggling with stagnant offense and sub-par defensive rotations.

It’s too much to ask Garnett for him to pick up right where we he left off, but he needs to be that player again at least by the All-Star break if the Celtics are going to have any time to get everything in place for the playoffs. Marquis Daniels is also tentatively scheduled to be back by that point and that would be the first time this season the Celtics would have their nine-man rotation fully upright and operational.